(Newsroom Panama) President Ricardo Martinelli had a 35 minute meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, on Thursday, April 28, but after the traditional photo op there was no press conference.
Reports in Panama’s media suggest that Obama reaffirmed his desire to proceed with early ratification of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries but gave no indication of how and when.
Martinelli did not speak to the media after the meeting and did not hold a press conference as his predecessors had done.
But Associated Press reported Martinelli told them that Obama would send the Panama agreement to Congress at the same time as the agreements with Korea and Colombia, and that they are expected to be ratified before the summer break which starts August 8 .
At the Whitehouse, Martinelli was accompanied by Vice President and Foreign Minister, Juan Carlos Varela, Jose Raul Mulino ministers (Security), Lucy Molinar (Education), Jimmy Papadimitriu (Ministry of the Presidency)), Roberto Henríquez (Trade and Industry) and Alberto Vallarino (Finance) and the Panamanian ambassador to Washington, Mario Jaramillo.
Obama was backed by Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, Arturo Valenzuela, Deputy Secretary of State for Interamerican Affairs, Ron Kirk, Trade Representative, Daniel Restrepo, White House counsel for the Western Hemisphere, and Phyllis Powers,Ambassador to Panama